Guided Self-Massage

Follow your intuition with gentle guidance. Together, we will release tension in the muscles of the body with healing and clearing intentions. No experience necessary, you are your best teacher. This session was recorded during a live Insight Timer session, there may be video references or audience participation. I'd love to hear your feedback!

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

So nice to see you.

I'm Katie Kuhlman.

And this morning,

Afternoon for you,

Maybe it's evening,

We'll be going through a guided self massage.

So getting set up is our first few minutes here.

So you can prepare your space,

Prepare your body,

Get in the right position.

We are going to be working from the head to the toes in one way or another.

So we'll do our best to touch and send healing and hold space.

So setting up your space,

You can lay down or sit up and maybe you'll want to switch between.

So just do what feels right but make sure that you can do that where you're at currently.

Grab some lotion if you like,

Oil,

Something if you want to use that.

You can also do this without.

Absolutely fine,

I won't be using much at all.

If you want to use some props,

Get creative.

For the legs and the back,

We can use tennis ball,

Racquetball,

Foam roller,

Rolled up yoga mat,

Kitchen tools,

An orange.

So just whatever comes to mind that's easy and that you can get to and come back to us in just a minute.

And also I invite you to wash your hands.

It's a lovely step in this ritual of self-love and it helps sinking in to the intention.

And light a candle.

I'm actually gonna run a bit of sage just for clearing and it smells nice.

And as we breathe,

We're warming the hands.

So bring the hands together to start to initiate some touch and warming the hands.

Good morning everyone.

And close the eyes when you're ready.

And setting our intention.

So in massage therapy school we learned that touch is splendid for so many things and it can transition into that therapeutic effect with your intention.

So that means sending your your intention into the muscles of what you're trying to give them.

Are you giving them healing?

Are you giving them release?

Are you giving your energy body release?

So just decide for yourself and it can shift between.

There's no wrong answers but choose an intention for now.

And I'll remind you to come back to that as we move through the practice.

So big deep breaths warming the hands and connecting with the body.

Bringing the hands together at your heart and namaste.

And just thanking the body,

Thanking yourself for being here.

And we'll begin.

So we'll start with the head.

So placing the hands on the sides of the face,

Cupping the jaw in the palms.

And just beginning to familiarize yourself with the surface of the skin in this new way.

If this is your first session,

This is your fifth.

Just getting acquainted.

So we will move through the areas of the body relatively quickly so that we can cover it all in this session.

We've spent 45 minutes just on the head and the face,

Just on the face and the neck.

So we will do what we can,

Sending love through our intention and move on.

So allow the fingertips to begin to apply some pressure to your level of comfort to the jawline.

And making small circles with the fingertips,

Walking the fingers down to the chin.

So do that again,

Starting at the ears with the fingertips,

Making small circles,

Moving slowly and gently down the jawline.

Remembering to breathe.

And last time,

Starting at the ears,

Small circles,

Walking down the jawline.

And following your own intuition.

So anything that I suggest that doesn't feel accessible to you for whatever reason,

Just find something that does.

Or just simply hold the touch,

Sending loving intention.

Now we'll move on to the center of the cheeks,

These big muscles that do all your chewing,

Well with help.

Let's give them,

Sometimes you need to go a little deeper just to listen to your body.

Remembering that you are the receiver of this work as well as the giver.

All right,

So brushing the cheeks with the hands.

It's nice to move in circular motions when in doubt.

Long,

Steady,

Slow,

Circular.

It's very calming.

So moving up to the sides of the face,

Just letting the fingers rest wherever it feels natural,

That you can comfortably raise the arms or lift the arms if you're lying down.

And just do those small circular motions at the sides of the face,

Feeling the temples,

Going into the hairline if that feels good.

And just let it go where you need to go right now for a couple minutes.

Small circular motion around the sides of the face,

Moving into the scalp.

We are applying some pressure to work the muscles below the skin.

If it feels better to stay at the surface and move over the surface,

Allowing the fingers to actually move,

Do what feels good.

When we work on the muscles,

The fingers don't slide over the surface.

They are moving the tissues beneath.

This gets deeper into the muscles.

Both have a very effective therapeutic release,

So you can't do it wrong.

Now we're moving around the head.

Maybe you're at the back of the head now.

And on top of the head.

Remembering to breathe.

And when you're ready,

When you feel like you've reached a good point for the head,

Relax the arms down,

Letting go of the work,

Letting go of the giving,

And just receive.

What does that do for the rest of your body?

Some light scalp or head massage,

Face massage.

Feel how much that affects you and the rest of the body.

And big deep breath in,

Adjusting the body if you like.

And we come into the neck.

Now we in massage,

We don't massage the front of the neck much.

And what I've learned,

We focus on the back and the sides of the neck.

So using the fingertips,

You can follow the length of the muscle,

The back of the neck,

Or the sides of the neck.

So beginning at the base of the skull and just gliding down the back of the neck with light or moderate pressure,

Whatever feels good to you.

So we are tracing the muscles with either the tips of the fingers or placing the entire finger surface and tracing down to the collarbone,

To the shoulder blades,

Well the shoulders,

The tops of the shoulders,

And pressing down.

Start out light and just see what feels good to you.

And give your neck or the base of the skull just a couple more,

30 more seconds.

You can come in,

Give a little more pressure.

And then lastly for the neck with the whole hand,

Placing the hand just at the back of the neck and squeezing the fingertips to the palm.

So we're applying that pressure to the back of the neck.

And trade,

Use the other hand just to even out your body.

Squeezing all the muscles at the back of the neck,

If that feels good.

All right,

Moving on to the shoulders.

Just placing the hands on the shoulders,

The base of the neck,

Starting close in to the neck and allowing the fingers to to rest on the back.

So what you can do is apply pressure pulling the muscles forward slowly.

Slowly is key,

Remembering your intention.

And begin again moving out a bit from the neck,

Pulling forward with the fingers with as much or as little pressure as you like.

And continue that motion,

Remembering to breathe and receive.

And moving out again.

So it might be nice to switch to the opposite hand,

To the opposite shoulder.

So right hand on left,

Left hand on right,

To get to the outside of the shoulders.

And this is what's working for me in my body,

So listen to yours.

This might be a fun time to engage with the tennis ball.

A foam roller is nice for the shoulders.

Now as you get to the biceps,

The top of the arm,

Let's give a squeeze.

Losing your circulation,

Bringing the blood flow to the area,

Clearing it out,

Remembering your intention.

So back up to the shoulders for just another bit of attention.

And we'll go that same motion,

Just giving the shoulders some love.

And brushing from the base of the head,

The base of the skull,

Down the shoulders.

Fluid movement,

Calming the area,

Coming down from the jawline to the chest,

In a gentle quieting motion.

We finish different areas of the body in massage.

We use this motion to quiet and to bring closure.

So we'll take a pause,

Rest the arms down.

Deep breath,

Receiving that work in the neck and the shoulders.

We're beginning to bring this intention to the arms.

So this is pretty open.

We don't spend too much time in the arms.

We'll get to the hands.

But we're just using a squeezing motion on the opposite arm.

It's just beginning at the shoulders,

Moving down slowly,

Bringing warmth and your intention to the arms.

And do that again,

Starting at the shoulders,

Squeezing each area,

Each muscle to come down.

And giving that also to the forearms.

Coming into the hands.

So we'll give some extra attention to the hands.

Squeezing the palms together,

Squeezing up to the fingers and switching to the other hand.

So the right gives to the left.

Give your full attention to that area and switch.

And coming into the area between the thumb and the first finger.

This gets sore for a lot of us,

So can use some extra attention with fingers working in the palm and the thumb working on the back of the hand.

Give yourself whatever pressure you need to give this area some relief.

Breathing in and letting go.

Receiving this work.

And when you're ready,

Switching to the other hand.

Getting into the area between the thumb and the first finger.

Going as deep,

As heavy as you want to.

And just relax into that for another few seconds.

When you're ready,

Just brushing the hands,

Shaking the hands out.

Shaking the arms.

If you haven't massaged before this might be starting to feel like work.

Just relax.

Let it go.

Pause and breathe and rest for a second or two.

Feeling the effects throughout the body.

Now when we get to the back,

The hips.

The best thing you can do is right now is stretching.

So giving yourself a twist.

Giving yourself a stretch that you know works for you.

And depending on your range of motion.

Making two fists with your hands and bring your arms around your back.

And starting at the part of the back that you can reach.

Applying pressure down the back.

So walking down the back with your fists.

Going as high or as low as you can.

So we're just working as best we can on the back with the fists,

Starting along the spine and working out.

This is another great spot to use tennis ball or foam roller.

You can lay on those and move yourself around.

So giving your back that attention.

If you are unable to reach your back,

You're just not able to get there.

Come back to your intention.

Place the hands on the belly and just breathe in.

Using the fists to work from the spine outward,

Up and down the back.

And everyone bringing the hands to the belly.

In a longer session,

We would include the chest,

The belly,

But today we're going to move on to the legs and the feet.

Again,

A great area to use your props.

So foam roller,

Tennis ball,

If that's what you have,

Bringing that and just rolling it around parts of the leg that you can get to.

So I'm not going to demonstrate everything this part is really up to you,

Your body,

Your props,

Your range of motion.

So using the hands or a prop to bring circulation while increasing your circulation to the areas of the legs.

Working on the thighs,

Major muscle group.

So if you're sitting upright,

Just walking the palms from the hips down to the knees,

Applying pressure to your comfort level.

Waking it up.

Straighten the legs if you like.

Just adjust to what you have available to you right now.

Just continue that walking motion.

The palms of the hands.

Getting the outer thighs.

Getting up to the hips and follow the line.

Follow the line where it wants you to go.

Sometimes,

Our intuition is our best guide so do what you want to do,

Not what I'm telling you to do all the time.

Just your suggestions.

Right,

Finishing up on the thighs.

Feeling that brushing feeling light brush hands just gently gliding over quieting the area,

Signaling that that's done.

And then positioning to get to the legs,

The lower leg and the feet.

Same motion on the lower leg that we did on the thigh,

Walking the palm,

Remembering to breathe and receive this work.

Walking from the ankles up to the knees,

And the knees down to the ankles.

Depending on your structure you might be able to get more of a squeeze.

Maybe you could on the thigh.

Just do your best,

Remembering your intention.

And whenever you are used to the motion you can let go of the giving and focus on receiving.

And then we'll brush up from the feet,

Quieting the area when you feel complete.

And allowing the hands to rest on the ankles.

Similar motion of the pressing with the palms can also use the fists,

Loose fist,

Remembering to relax all parts of the body as you can.

And undo the work we've just given to the rest of the body for the sake of the feet,

Allowing yourself to shift into the breath,

Meditative state,

Dreamy state.

And then coming in with the fingers on the feet and just beginning with one foot,

Taking the thumbs into the ball of the foot and walking the thumbs.

Slowly or quickly around the ball of the foot.

Coming up the side,

Coming back to the middle.

Coming up to the toes,

The base of the toes,

Giving each area of the sole of the foot,

Starting at the ball.

This fits of pressure.

And coming down to the arch.

Still on the left foot here.

Or whichever foot you started with,

Of course.

And hitting the heel of the foot,

The sole.

And coming in with the fingers,

Just rounding that out,

Hitting any other missing spots.

And brushing gently the sole of the left foot,

From toes to heel.

And finishing on the toes,

Starting at the base of the big toe.

Working the base of the toe and then coming up to the tip of the toe.

Moving to the next toe.

Giving each toe a bit of attention and switching hands when you need to.

And then giving the whole set of toes a squeeze.

Alright,

Switching feet.

Starting at the ball of the foot with the thumbs again.

Just walking the thumbs around.

Beginning with the ball of the foot.

And now you know what we're doing so you can maybe let go even further.

Just follow your intuition.

Follow the breath.

And coming down to the arch of the foot.

Coming around to the sides of the feet with that walking thumb motion.

Moving into the heel.

Breaking up tension.

These beautiful feet work so hard for us.

Taking us on our way.

So finishing that up,

Coming in with the fingertips to finish any missing areas.

And brushing from the toes up to the heel.

Gently gliding the hand.

And again we finish on the toes,

Starting at the base of the big toe,

Working,

Giving pressure all the way up to the end of the toe.

Moving to the second toe.

And when you're ready,

Give it a full squeeze to all the toes,

Finishing that up.

Big breath.

Big gratitude for yourself.

Gently brushing from the toes up to the knees,

To the hips,

Toes,

Knees,

Hips.

Last time,

Toes,

Knees,

Hips.

Coming up to the upper body.

And the belly,

Belly,

Shoulders,

Head.

Belly,

Shoulders,

Head.

Brushing up.

Belly,

Shoulders,

Head.

And now shake out the hands.

And you're finished.

When you're ready,

Just relax everything.

Let it all go.

Resting with ease and gratitude.

And this body.

Thank you all so much for joining.

It's such fun to share this with you and hold the space for myself,

And also to be giving that to others so that is brings me a lot of joy.

I really appreciate you.

Really,

Truly.

Have a beautiful day.

Reviews

Thank you, Katy! The self-massage was really helpful in relieving a lot of tension I was holding in my body. I am working on self-care and will be doing this regularly.

💙🙏🏻💙

Hello beautiful 🌺🌺🌺thank you so much for the wonderful self massage 🌸 I feel sparkling like champagne 🍾 and I’m smiling from the inside out🗺stay safe and happy 🙏Namaste

Hey from Goa! Thank you so much for this gift to myself! It felt like 5 mins! First time doing self massage for me as you separated the giving and receiving really worked! Could have done with so much longer on each session! Please please consider recording separate areas in order of value so that played in a playlist one could receive a really intentional full body massage. I got a little confused and missed switching legs. I was so entranced and relaxed by your voice. I definitely could do with a little left and right guidance. Please do more! Especially knees and feet! Thank you so much! 🙏🏽🦋🙏🏽

Lovely, thank you. Love and blessings 💜 x

That was so good 🤗 it was fabulous I could feel the tension in my neck releasing thank you so much 💕🙏☘️🦋